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REPORT ON WAR CLAIMS AGAINST THE GENERAL 
GOVERNMENT. 



;id 



SPECIAL MESSAGE . 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA, 



TRANSMITTINQ 



REPORT OF JOHN N. DEWEY. 



COMMISSIONER UNDER CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE, OP THE ACTS OF THE ELEVENTH 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 



LAID BEFORE THE FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY, APRIL 2, 1872. 



DES MOINES : 

Cr. V^. EDWAHDS, STATE PflNTEIl. 
1872. 



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APR 2 9 ■'9'"* 



[ No. 23 a. ] 

SPECIAL MESSAGE. 



STATE OF IOWA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) 

April 3, 1873. ( 

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representative^: 

I herewith transmit the final report of Col. John N, Dewej, Com- 
missioner under chapter 95, of the acts of the Eleventh General As- 
sembly, giving a detailed statement of the prosecution before the 
accounting officers at "Washington, of the claims of the State growing 
out of the war of the rebellion, and the protection of our frontiers, 
from the date of his appointment to the 1st dav of April, 1S72. 

This statement shows that since the date of his last report to my 
predecessor, the Commissioner has secured the allowance of 
^80,237.40, making, with the sum then just allowed, a total of 
'^101,376.02, leaving a disallowed balance of $33,900.82. The nature 
of the claims disallowed, and the extreme improbability of ever getting 
them audited and paid without special legislation by Congress, you 
will find fully set forth in the accompanying report. 

On the 18th day of April, A. D., 1866, the act took eftect, which 
constituted Col. Dewey a Commissioner for the State to press these 
claims to a settlement with the General Government. He entered 
upon his duties with his usual zeal, system, and determination. He 
found unadjusted balances claimed by the State of Iowa, amounting 
to $1,090,733.50. These claims, although regarded as just, were at 
that time thought to be so uncertain as to collection, that several gen- 
tleman who had given them attention, were favorable to a commuta' 
tion with the Government, from which we would have failed to real- 
ize one-half the amount of subsequent allowances. I cannot, there- 
fore, in submitting this report, fail to say that the Commissioner for 



4 SPECIAL MESSAGE. 

Iowa, by the energy and good judgment with which he pressed the 
claims before the Departments at Washington, and the results real- 
ized from his efforts, has more than met the expectations of the peo- 
ple, especially of those conversant with the obstacles he had to over- 
come, and is entitled, aside fro)n his compensation, to the recogni- 
tion of having been a faithful and conscientious agent of the State. 

C. C. CARPENTER. 



REPORT. 



To His Excellency^ C. C. Carpenter, Governor : 

Having, since the date of mj last report to your immediate prede- 
cessor, concluded a final settlement of the first installment of the 
Iowa war claims, by which the whole of the then outstanding bal- 
ance has been recovered, and a special settlement of the second, 
third, fifth, and seventli installments, by which the further sum of 
$80,237.40 has been admitted due, making, with the addition of the 
sum then but recently admitted, a total of $101,376.02, which I have 
caused to be carried to the credit of the State, as per statement of 
Third Auditor to your Excellency, I beg now, as then intimated, to 
make a final report of my action in these premises. 

These claiins, although all of a military character, arose at differ- 
ent periods of time, and grew out of different exigencies. For some 
of them, Congress in 1861 made provision for payment, while, for 
others, none whatever had been made, these last being essentially 
for expenses incurred for State protection, and not for national de- 
fense. Nearly a quarter of a million of dollars was of this charac- 
ter, and for their payment provision had first to be made by law. To 
secure this, was one of the earliest efforts of the undersigned — an 
effort in the end successful, through the aid and influence of the very 
able delegation then representing this State in the Federal Congress. 
No authority of Congress, however, ever authorized the payment of 
any of these claims, except upon proper vouchers, passed upon and 
settled by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury Department, 
after the most rigid scrutiny. These settlements were made by in- 
stallments, and involved a great amount of labor, not only in prepar- 
ing them for departmental action, but also in subsequent explana- 
tions, personally and in w^riting, whereby objections were removed, 
by supplying information to those having charge of the examination 
of the vouchers, as to the legality, authority, justice, or necessity of 
the different expenditures, for which re-imbursement was claimed. 



6 REPORT OP 

The first installment (numerically) filed with the Department in 
February, 1862, was for pay of services of officers and men of the 
first three regiments of infantry, previous to their muster into United 
States service. It amounted to $30,824.51. 

The second installment, filed in February, 18G3, was on account 
of payments made for " barracks and quarters, clothing, subsistence, 
" transportation, recruiting, and other expenses," necessarily incurred 
in raising troops for the United States service, to be employed in sup- 
pressing the rebelhon. Amount as filed, $334,281.47. 

The third installment, filed in March, 1863, was for payments 
made to the officers and men of the remaining infantry and cavalry 
regiments, (First Cavalry excepted,) for services previous to muster-in. 
Amount as filed, $282,457.30. 

The fourth installment, or what is known as the fourth installment, 
was really the first as to pclint of time in which it originated. It arose 
out of expenses incurred in maintaining a company of men in the 
Spirit Lake country in 1857-8, to guard against a recurrence of what 
was known as the " Ink-pa-du-tah raid," or massacre. It amounted 
to $18,988.84, and was originally preferred against the general Gov- 
ernment by Governor Lowe, in 1859. Congress passed an act in 
1860 for its payment, but coupled with certain provisions that nearly 
rendered it nugatory, so much so that it was not sufficiently perfect- 
ed to go before the accounting officers of the Treasury Department 
until November, 1867. 

The fifth installment, filed January, 1869, like the second, was for 
expenses necessarily incurred for " barracks and quarters, clothing, 
" subsistence, transportation, and other expenses," on account of 
troops raised for United States service, etc. Amount, as filed, 
$166,574.51. 

The sixth installment, filed in April, 1869, was on account of ex- 
penses incurred in raising, paying, and maintaining a militia force in 
1861, '2, and '3, along our northern and southern borders, to guard 
against incursions by hostile Indians and rebel guerrillas. Like the 
fourth installment, legislation by Congress had to be invoked before 
it could be acted upon, or paid. This was at last obtained in the 
winter of 1869, when the accounts were immediately " abstracted,''' 
and brought before the proper accounting officers of the Treasury 
Department. Amount filed, $229,848.23. 



COMMISSIONER J. N. DEWEY. 7 

The seventh installment, filed December, 1S69, was on account of 
payments made to the officers and men exclusively of the First Iowa 
Volunteer Cavalry for services rendered previous to muster into the 
United States service. Amount filed, $27,779.42. 

These several installments amounted in the .aggregate — after 
balancing errors in extensions and footings — to the sum of 
$1,090,733.50. From this amount deduct, on account of vouchers 
withdrawn from second installment and filed with th<3 sixth, 
$343.04 ; also, on account of vouchers withdrawn from fifth install- 
ment and returned to town of Guttenburg, and Clayton and Fayette 
counties, $1,500.55 — $1,843.59 — and we have remaining the sum 
of $1,088,889.91. Of this amount I have recovered, and the State 
has been credited at different times on the books of the Treasury 
Department at Washington City, the sum of $1,054,989.09, leaving 
$33,889.91 as an unadjusted or disallowed balance. The vouchers 
representing this disallowed balance remain in the ofiice of the 
Third Auditor at "Washington ; most of them have been disallowed 
two and three times over, after as many explanations. They repre- 
sent a class of expenditures impossible for the State to have avoided, 
but yet of such a character that in no instance has the Government 
refunded them to a single State ; their numbers and amounts, as 
well as reasons for their disallowance, may be ascertained upon con- 
sulting the statement of differences " on special settlement of second, 
" third, fifth, and seventh installments, reported February 9th, 1872, 
" returned February 10. 1872," — copy of which has just been re- 
ceived, and which I hand you herewith. A comparison of these 
vouchers with the original abstracts filed therewith in the Depart- 
ment, shows this balance distributed as follows, viz : 

On accc'unt of payments made to officers and men $17,294.30 

" " " clothing furnished to officers 211.62 

" " " subsistence 229.79 

" " " transportation 5,200.33 

" " " recruiting 110.00 

" " " other expenses 10,854.78 

Total ' $33,900.82 



g REPORT OF 

A very large proportion of the " payments made to officers and 
" men," wliicli were disallowed, was on account of their failure to 
muster into the United States service. So of subsistence and trans- 
portation ; nearly all of it being on account of rejected volunteers, 
furlouo-hed, sick, or wounded soldiers, and officers who, for various 
reasons, failed to muster. 

Under the head of " other expenses " was included w^iatever was 
expended by the State that did not strictly fall under some one of the 
preceding heads; as, the entire expense of the Adjutant, Pay, Quar- 
termaster, and Surgeon-General's departments, the Bond or Loan 
Commissioners, the Board of Auditing Commissioners, interest on 
money temporarily borrowed, blank books and stationery for all the 
military departments, telegraphing, printing, advertising, etc. In 
the aggregate it amounted to nearly $150,000, and, considering the 
nature, character, and great variety of these incidental expenses, the 
amount remaining unpaid is very small. It may be very nearly dis- 
tributed as follows : 

Clerical services in A. G., Q. M. G., and P. M. G. Depart- 
ments, including blank books, stationery, 6zc $ 3,500.00 

Bond or loan commissioners, with printing, 6cc , for same. 2,600.00 

Auditing commissioners, including blank books, <fcc 500.00 

Interest on money borrowed 2,400.00 

Printing, advertising, &c 1,854.78 

Total $10,854.78 

As intimated above, the amount embraced in these disallowed 
vouchers is of such a character that the accounting officers of the 
Treasury Department, by whom these settlements are made, have 
heretofore steadfastly refused re-imbursement to any uf the States 
for similar claims; nor can they be expected to do otherwise in the 
future without a most material modification ol the rules and regula- 
tions prescribed by Secretary Chase under the laws of 1861 for the 
settlement of State claims, and rigidly adhered to by his successors up 
to the present time, with one single exception, viz.: the admission or 
payment of transportation by wagons, which was originally denied. 



COMMISSIONER J. N. DEWEY. 9 

It is not impossible, however, with proper effort in the way of Con- 
gressional legislation, that a portion of these outstanding expenses 
might be recovered, and if successful in this direction it might be 
made to include payment for a small amount of similar claims, 
vouchers for which have never been filed, for the reason that they 
were understood to be clearly outside of any existing law authorizing 
their payment. To accomplish this purpose, however, might require 
a greater outlay of time and expense than would seem profitable to 
the State — in the minds of many persons — especially in the event of 
failure. Such being the case, and having succeeded in recovering, 
at comparatively small expense, nearly ninety-seven (97) per cent, of 
the entire claim, which in 1866 was considered so hopeless that many 
prudent men — legislators and others — thought it best to part with 
tlie whole of the State's interest in it for less than one half of the 
amount since collected, rather than incur the risk of additional ex- 
pense, I hereby carry into effect a purpose several months since de- 
termined on, of respectfully declining any further action in the prem- 
ises, by virtue of any existing act of the Legislature, conferring upon 
me the appointment of "a commissioner with full power to settle 
" and adjust with the United States, all claims due therefrom, incur- 
"red by this State in raising, &c., troops, and sending them to the 
" field, and for all other purposes or expenses growing out of, or inci- 
'' dent to, the late rebellion." 
I have the honor to remain 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 
[Signed] J. N. DEWEY. 

Des Moines^ Iowa, April 1, 1872. 



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